


Confrere

by schizoauthoress



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Brothers, Drabble Chain, Gen, Mild Language, Road Trips, biker!Taker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 09:11:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schizoauthoress/pseuds/schizoauthoress
Summary: The Brothers of Destruction are riding together to the next show.  Conversations come easier in the car somehow.[this is set after they form their tag team, but before the "Sara's stalker" storyline]





	Confrere

They were a tag team now. It only made sense to ride together.

"I'll do all the day driving, if you don't mind." Kane said. "It's safer. My night vision isn't the greatest."

"Oh. Because of...?" Taker gestured to his own right eye, looking distinctly guilty. 

Kane huffed, "It's not a big deal."

Taker had to hear the annoyance in Kane's tone. He stashed one last bag in the car's trunk, straightening up to nod at Kane. "I'll handle nights, then. Do you wear the mask while driving?"

Kane laughed. "We'll get pulled over!"

"Speaking from experience?" Taker asked, smirking.

****

He'd said 'I'll tell you later', since they had to finish stocking up on road trip supplies at the time.

But now -- smack in the middle of midday traffic -- was later. And Taker was definitely sneaking looks at him, probably trying to gauge if it was a good time to press for details.

"At least the scarf stands out less since you're right next to me in a bandanna," Kane commented, as an opener.

Taker teased, "You look like you might hop out and mug someone."

"You look like a disgruntled biker who might mug someone for kicks," Kane retorted.

****

"Maybe I am," Taker replied, sounding unruffled. Kane figured he did that on purpose -- switching between piqued and placid as it suited him -- to keep other people on edge. Suspecting his motives didn't make Kane any less likely to be affected.

"You gonna give me shit for the beanie I put on outside the car, too?"

Taker took a swig from his bottle of cola, apparently mulling over the scenario. Then: "Maybe. Gotta see how it looks."

"It looks far less out of place than the red and black leather mask."

"Kane, honestly... you could say that about _anything_ else."

****

"Yeah, I know." Kane allowed a van to merge, wincing when the driver proceeded to speed up and squeeze into a small gap between cars in the crowded carpool lane. It was a maneuver he'd never dare attempt. Impatient drivers made him feel anxious. "The cops in Detroit thought my mask was suspicious."

Taker snorted. He wasn't fond of law enforcement, given his own arrest record.

Kane sighed. "Sean didn't help the situation at first. He was... belligerent."

"Don't go sayin' shit that'll make me like that toothpick _now_!" Taker exclaimed, chuckling at the idea of X-Pac insulting police officers.

****

"That's not why I'm telling this story!" Kane protested with a helpless laugh. "Sean turned out to be an asshole, anyway."

"Tried t'warn you away from him, didn't I?"

Kane ignored the smug question. "Wearing a mask is considered reckless driving in several states. Sean took over driving and they let us off with a warning."

A suppressed laugh colored Taker's voice: "You were bigger than they were expecting when y'got out of the car, huh?" 

"Think so, yeah," Kane answered. "The taller one came up to my chest."

"Sometimes that's enough to make the pigs back off."

"Taker!"

"What?"

****

Kane sighed. "This shit was easier with Paul. No point in going masked since he knows my face."

Taker went silent and still. Kane realized quickly that his offhand comment had been taken wrong.

"You don't gotta cover up around me," Taker said finally, quietly. "Unless you wanna. If I make you uncomfortable..."

Taker hadn't yet seen Kane's whole face. Obviously, from where Taker sat he could see the faint scarring around Kane's right eye, above the scarf. He might have caught a glimpse of the flat, pinkish scars across Kane's forehead earlier. But Kane had not unmasked for him.

****

"I don't think I'm ready to show you," Kane replied. "Not yet."

"Don't wanna shock Mr. Investment Banker in the next lane over?" Taker suggested. It was obviously a screen to conceal Taker's feelings, but Kane didn't call him out on it.

Kane quite deliberately looked over at the suit-wearing driver of the SUV beside them, then turned so he could actually see Taker's face. "I've been known to startle little old ladies. That chump would spook worse."

That got a chuckle out of his big brother. "For sure."

Kane returned his gaze to the road. "I'll think about it."

****

Taker leaned forward and turned on the radio. Kane let him fiddle with the dial, silently pleased when he skipped over a station playing rap rock in the vein of his current entrance music. He settled on a song from Patty Loveless, and Kane relaxed a bit.

"So your taste in music isn't a _complete_ lost cause..."

"Just for that," Taker said, stabbing his finger at the Seek button and letting the radio search for a new signal, "I'm gonna find a heavy metal station."

"I wouldn't mind something like Pantera," Kane conceded. 

"Fancy yourself as a cowboy from Hell?"

****

"The 'from Hell' part is pretty accurate," Kane mused, "since I have the demon in my head."

"It is so weird for me t'be the more normal one..." Taker muttered.

Kane grinned. "Aw, don't worry, big brother. You'll always be an oddball to me."

Taker found a metal station that was playing songs from further back than the current chart-toppers. It wasn't Pantera either, but Judas Priest. 

Soon enough, both of them were (loudly) singing along:  
_"Ram it down, ram it down_  
_Razing the place to the ground_  
_Ram it down!"_

It felt... safer than talking around their personal issues.

****

"I can fill the tank," Kane said. "I know you don't like to--"

"You stay in the car," Taker interrupted, voice stern. "How d'you know if I mind pumping gas or not? Dennis been tellin' tales?"

"No," Kane replied, amused. "Paul said you always made him do it, when you two rode together."

"Back then I was the Deadman. Had a gimmick that needed protecting." Taker gave a sly grin. "Now that's you, masked man."

"I'm not even wearing it!"

Taker didn't dignify that protest with a response. He just ignored Kane, striding quickly into the gas station to pay.

****

"Sometimes I wonder how differently our lives might have gone if the fire never happened," Kane admitted. He couldn't look at Taker in the passenger seat, needing to keep his one good eye on the road. Maybe that's why he said it now.

Taker exhaled loudly, and his seat creaked as he leaned back into it more. The car passed several freeway exits in silence before he spoke: "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Kane replied. "We wouldn't be quite so messed up, I think. Would we even be wrestlers?"

"Maybe," Taker said gruffly. "We got into the business separately, of our own volition."

****

"That's true," Kane said.

"Did you start out wanting to feed me to hellhounds?" Taker asked. "Am I really the _only_ reason you're here?"

"Nah," Kane laughed, recalling the feud that instigated his debut with the company. "That was a side benefit I was shooting for back then."

"What else would we even be doing?" Taker wondered.

"You wanted to take over the family business," Kane pointed out. 

Taker mused, "Just a mild-mannered undertaker, not a supernatural one..." 

Kane snorted. "You've _never_ been mild-mannered. Not once in your whole life."

Taker's laughter, warm and genuine, filled the car. "Fair enough."

*-*-*-*-*


End file.
